Chlorine lock - need to drain pool?

[duraleigh]

Donna,

CYA doesn't change on it's own so one of the tests is innacurate....significantly.

Should you decide to go with the advice on the forum, it will be based solely on test results. If you are comfortable with the accuracy of the results from your kit, I would not ask the poolstore to test the water in the future. It'll only confuse the issue.

[Poolsean]

Donna,

How old is your test kit? Most of the time, fluctuations in test results that don't make sense, such as the Cya dropping 30 ppms without reason, is due to old or compromised reagents. Also, the "deep amber - english ale" color, or is that colour, indicates that you're testing with an OTO type test reagent. OTO is Orthotolidine, which measure TOTAL chlorine. Total Chlorine is further broken down into the important components of Free Chlorine (the good stuff) and Combined Chlorine (also called chloramines - the bad stuff (used up chlorine that has reacted with the ammonias and germs in the water)).
DPD type test kits allow you to test for Free Chlorine and Total Chlorine, the difference being the Combined Chlorine.
First recommendation to doing this yourself is keep on this forum and get yourself a good reliable, up to date kit. Ben has this available on this site. Taylor Technologies is one of the premier test kit manufacturers in the pool industry, who's test reagents are used in many other "private label" test kits.
Second, ask away! Pretty much everyone here is ready to help with any issues or questions.
Finally, don't do anything drastic like draining your pool or getting rid of your pool guy until you are ready and comfortable with taking on the work. Remember, there are other things your pool guy does on a weekly basis. Brush the pool, clean/backwash the filter (as needed), check and clean the skimmer and pump baskets, ideally, chlorinate and adjust pH levels (most of the time this is just an estimated guess as to how much you need - read splash and dash), and try to keep everything running.
Once you get use to the routine, it becomes habit and you get to know your pool.

Again, ask away!